Thursday’s Mini Report: Growth, Inflation and Major Political Fights, 10.29.26

Courts reject federal requests

A federal judge turned down the Trump administration’s request for an emergency order concerning California mail ballots. The request sought to make the state set aside ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters whom the Department of Homeland Security had identified as “likely” noncitizens. In a separate ruling Thursday, a judge said chronically ill people on Medicaid would not face new work requirements under the administration’s guidance for qualifying for “medically frail” exemptions.

Methane rule and workforce

Trump said Tuesday that his administration was ending a Biden-era rule intended to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling. At a campaign rally in Texas, he said the move would save companies and consumers billions of dollars and make 210 million barrels of oil available, an amount described as about 10 days of U.S. petroleum consumption.

A Washington Post analysis found that about one in five government workers had left since the start of Trump’s second term. The analysis described the changes as faster and deeper than under any recent predecessor, and said Black people were hit hardest by some measures.

Missile launches and rhetoric

North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles toward waters off its eastern coast Thursday, South Korea’s military said. The launches came days after the North threatened to restart front-line propaganda broadcasts and deploy new weapons near the tense border.

They also followed Kim Jong Un’s weekend visit to China, North Korea’s main ally and economic pipeline, where he sought greater cooperation. Separately, a Washington Sun analysis found Trump referred to physical appearance almost three times as often in the past year as during the same period of the 2016 campaign.